I'm baaaaack!

I figured out why I've been avoiding my blog!
(Other than the fact that I lead an insanely busy life, and now that the sun occasionally peeks out amongst the clouds, its getting even busier! I've already told Vicente that when the sun is out, he is NOT to expect a clean house or meals cooked!
His response?
"Good, the kids won't remember all that anyways!" Love him! I love him!)

I've had it in the back of my brain that I'd like to update my blog about our schooling situation, and that seems like a huge task to me.
So, in keeping with tradition, I have successfully ignore this huge task for months. ~giggle~
But now I'm ready to come and play, so I suppose its time! (Plus, I really should be packing for a weekend beach retreat with some friends, which is an even HUGER task in my book! Choosing the lesser of two evils, so to speak...I'm a panic packer through and through.)

Oh my! E Jo needs help getting scrubbed up...let's HOPE I make it back here to finish this off! If not, we'll just call it business as usual in Heidi's life! ;~)

Hello again

We had a bad laptop that actually had a lawsuit out against it, then we had no computer, than we got a laptop at FRY'S, and it freaked, and we had no computer. A few days ago we were given a big daddy of a desk top, and we are back in business.
But I lost our camera, so there is no reason for me to post w/o pictures.
I SHALL RETURN!! :~D

Fashion a'la Heidi's kids

My Evy is big on layering...now we've just gotta work on pattern choices!


And the boys? They're just dorks! :~D

So I found a few pics that I love!

We have a cemetery right behind our neighborhood that everyone uses as a kind of park...I suppose it sounds disrespectful, written out like that, but it's not...trust me!
It was a freezing cold day, and I knew we were going to have to have more to keep us busy than just a nice jaunt through the graves. (Though that is a *great* way to pass the time, don't get me wrong...just not when it's a million below zero outside!)


So the kids and I bundled up:


Headed out for our adventure:


Found a foe to be beaten:


Assisted each other in the battle:


Conquered said foe:


And looked cute doing it:


I can't pretend to be even remotely humble about how insanely adorable my babies are. ;~D

I got's me a new computer!!!!!!!!!

Woohoo, yeehaw, and hip hip HOOray!
I'm back on line!!! :~D

I'd love to post a pic of my stylin new laptop...but I can't figure out how to upload only the *new* pictures from the camera. (Turns out I've taken 362 pictures since our 10 year anniversary last September. Unfortunately my purty new HP wants to grab every blessed one of them every time it starts talking to my camera. I've banned their relationship for now...they need counseling.)

I'm dying to spend a good chunk of time just gabbing about what interests me - namely my family, of course - but every cotton-pickin time I get on this thing a pop up tells me how important it is to download something or another...and then it usually gives me grief for trying!

Basically, I haven't a clue what I'm doing, but I sure am wasting a good chunk of time doing it! I've been at this thing all weekend long, and I feel more confused than when I started...

BUT!!! This cute little computer actually stays on when I tell it to, so I have hope for our future together.

I'm glad to be back. :)

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Yesterday was emotionally exhausting. I'm always drained by the evening of the 3rd Monday in January.
Martin Luther King, Jr touches my heart.
The entire fight for Civil Rights is a subject I can barely talk about without getting all jumbled up on my insides. I struggle with the weight of the pain and restraint I feel in the fighters.

I want to stand strong with my fists clenched, ready to brawl.
I want to lay down and cover my head.
I want to intercede for the givers and receivers of hurt.
I want to scream and flail and make a fool of myself.
I want to hug everyone...
I don't want to offend, but I want to say I'm sorry.

So many I's. Maybe there needs to be more JESUS in there...

I don't know what to do, but I will keep seeking my part, and let Him have the rest.
Yesterday I packed out my van with kidlets (6 in all) and went to the only MLKJ event I could find in my area. We watched a video and read books and wrote poems and cried. I am so very impressed with my babies for wanting to learn, for wanting to understand.
God be glorified in our attempts.

On to the hum drum:
So, as a family we have been waiting since before Thanksgiving for a $3 an hour raise promised to us by Vicente's boss. "After the first of the year" he said.
The hope of it got us through a *very* difficult 5 weeks with little work, Christmas, and our baby boy's 9th birthday. Through it all we've repeated the mantra, "It's worth sticking it out with this company. It's worth sticking it out..."
Well, on Friday we learned that V's boss has changed his mind. No pay raise.
I won't say much about it because I might self-implode...we have made a few big decisions based on that promise, and it hurts to be lied to...

BUT! On to the fun of it:
We're looking for a new job for my Vicente!
We've considered the Oregon Youth Authority since before leaving Honduras, and it seems that may be where we're being led. It would be just perfect in so many ways. God's will be done!

Quick side note: My little battery icon on the laptop is telling me that it has 100% power!! I haven't a clue as to why it has decided to cooperate, but I ain't complaining! (I believe it has something to do with God knowing how much I can handle...but I won't make any claims.)

Zoo pics!

This was our New Years Eve adventure!
Have you ever been SO cold that you have to keep moving in order to even stay sane? Well, that's how that night was. It was about 7 hours of hopping around and blowing in our hands, but hopefully the kiddos have a couple of cool memories tucked away for a rainy day. :~)
It amazes me how many of the animals were out and about - I don't think I've ever even *seen* the tigers move, LOL! And the cougars and the chimps were down right antsy!
It was a great day all around - though we paid for it all the rest of the week. Both Vicente and I just couldn't get our energy back...
Oh my, is this what getting old is like?!? :~D

Here's our boys with J, a boy I watched all last year:
J and Jeshua. SUCH cuties!
Hoping that the elephant ears would warm us. (Please excuse Evy's corpse-like appearance...)
My E Jo, sweet as ever:
Israel being a dork.
A dinosaur:
An otter:
Da boyz: